2008-2009: Jaime Parellada

The Final Hour Before Junior Ring

As I walk into the barracks I can hear some freshmen yelling on my deck "Sirs good afternoon Sirs! This is the outstanding Norwich University Regimental Cavalry Troop Sirs! Today is the 17th day of the fourth month of the year of our Lord 2009, there is one hour until Junior Ring!", then I think to myself "wow, time does go fast"...I remember when we had to sound off every hour saying how many hours were left until Junior Ring Ceremony...and that was three years ago...time does fly.

Now I am patiently waiting in my room while everybody else rushes around campus. Some are shining their shoes, others ironing, and others who left their preparations to the last minute are rushing in search of basic things such as black shoe laces. The freshmen, who are just as excited as the juniors, are finally at ease with us. That is because they just completed their basic cavalry training and earned their sabers on Tuesday, now they are also troopers.

Today at noon, all their seniors removed their rings to honor the junior class. They will not wear their rings for the rest of the weekend.

The Junior Ring Ceremony is the most awaited time of the year for juniors, way more than Christmas or Spring Break, and that is because of the rich tradition behind it. The Junior Ring Ceremony began with the class of 1923 and the traditon remained ever since. The ring has two different sides, the class side, which is designed by the class receiving the ring, and the Norwich side, which was standardized in the 1960s.

The Junior Ring Committee is in charge of designing the class side. They are elected during sophomore year and work preparing the ceremony and ring design until  Junior Ring Ceremony on their junior year. The class side is designed based on events that marked that specific class year. For instance, some class years include the time of their recognition as cadets, the White Chapel, or the Military College of Vermont (MCV) gates.

The Norwich side, on the other hand, is standardized and every class year has it. It consists of six different parts which are the following:

1. The Eagle: symbol of strength and courage, it depicts the school and the United States of America

2. The Honor Scroll: represents the code we live and abide to as cadets.

3. The NUCC Scroll: distinguishes those who wear the ring as cadets.

4. The Norwich Shield: represents the military heritage of the school, its academic mission, and the date it was founded.

5. The Cavalry Sabers: represents the kinship between Norwich and the First Vermont Cavalry.

6. The "I Will Try" Scroll:  represents the spirit of Norwich and the motto " I Will Try!"

Each cadet gets two rings, a field ring and a garrison ring. The garrison ring is made of gold and is more precious than the field ring. In order to get the ring, a cadet must have successfully completed four semesters of ROTC, five semesters in the Corps of Cadets, have a minimum of 72 credits, and have successfully passed an Norwich University Physical Fitness Test (NUPFT) based on army standards. Although a cadet may submit appeals if there are some aspects he cannot meet because of a specific reason. i.e studying abroad or medical issue.

The best part of the whole ceremony is that the platoon of juniors is marched by their original Drill SGT!

Well, I must go now to the UP for Retreat and Junior Ring! I will never forget this day!

* The information on the ring was obtained from the Norwich University Cadet Handbook.

Intramural Indoor Soccer

I recently discovered that one of the best ways to relax, exercise, and have a good time is to participate in intramural sports. This is the first time I participate in intramural sports and so far I love it. For the past two weeks, both traditional students and cadets have been meeting at Plumley Armory on Mondays and Thursdays from 1900 to 2100 for the indoor soccer tournament. We started with a number of teams but the tournament has evolved into a strange mix of teams with pick-up substitutes. Games are intense and everyone has a great time. I say that games are intense because there are no fixed rules, its just common sense and sportsmanship, besides that everything goes, the ball can bounce off the walls, ceiling, etc, so its a very fast and rough game. After the games most of the players stay and continue playing until 2100. Sometimes we use the whole armory and have a really good time. Other times though, we must watch out for the cheerleaders when they practice since most of us tend to kick the ball quite hard and I bet no one would like to see a black-eyed cheerleader. I am glad that I discovered how fun intramural sports are because this winter was starting to get to me but now I have more things to look for besides academics, horse riding lessons, and ROTC.

Three Weeks Into the Semester

The past three weeks have been quite interesting for me, mostly because I had to get used to the Norwich lifestyle again after spending the whole summer in China and Taiwan and the Fall semester in Washington D.C. I must say that in the begining it was a little bit difficult for me to get used to the everyday routine but after a couple of days I got used to it again.

I am really happy with the courses I´m taking this semester. I decided to take Modern History of China, Chinese Military History, Chinese, Statistics, Colonial History of America, and of course, Military Science III. All my classes are really interesting and I enjoy them all. I must admit that I do have a lot of reading assignments but since I like to do it its not so bad.

 Some of the best things of life at Norwich are the little details that can completely improve my day. I really enjoy when one of my rook buddies will poke his head into my room ans say something funny or going to the mess hall (cafeteria) because there is always someone that I can talk to when I eat. It is a very common thing that cadets will sit by companies and will talk to each other about their day and joke while they eat. Another thing that I like doing is working out with my friends. I usually go for a run in the afternoon  with my company commander and then in the evening with some of my rook buddies. Its amazing to see how working out and being healthy becomes a habit at Norwich, I would even dare say that we must have one of the most physically fit  student populations in the nation.

Time goes by really fast here at Norwich, it  seems like it had been yesterday when I was squaring around the hallway and walking in the gutter around the UP. Now my classmates have all different jobs and are in charge of the freshmen training. I am just three weeks into the semester and feel like time is flying by, this past Friday the Senior class celebrated their 100s night, which means that as of today they only have 98 days until graduation.

I must go read now but I wish you all the best and will write soon.

warm regads

Jaime

A Semester in Washington D.C Followed by a Warm Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful time for the Holidays and a good start for this new year. As part of my International Studies major at Norwich I was required to study abroad one semester so that I could further understand the culture and politics of a country of my interest. Since I was already studying abroad in the U.S I decided to follow the "American track" throught which instead of studying abroad in another country one studies for one semester in Washington D.C. This track is focused primarily in giving international students the opportunity to learn more about American culture, history, and the political process.

Last Fall  couldnt have been a better time to be in the Nation´s capital, we had the electoral process heating up in the months previous to the elections as well as other issues like the infamous bailout that was basically forced through Congress even though it was extremely unpopular. All that time I had been living in a small apartment located on Capitol Hill just a couple of blocks away from the U.S Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the Capitol itself.

The whole semester was a great experience. I learned so much about American politics, the Constitution of the United States of America and many of the economic and political aspects of public policy. During the day I would intern at the Institute of World Politics, which is a graduate school for National Security and Strategic Studies where I learned a lot of valuable lessons among other things. I think that Norwich prepared me very well for interning at such place and for dealing with the kind of people I worked with everyday (retired military personnel, intelligence officers, etc). In the evening, I would go to Georgetown University were I would study and take my classes. The whole program was run by The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) and besides being really good it helped me make valuable contacts and to experience politics like never before.

We had site briefings that consisted of us visiting government offices or agencies and receiving information regarding how they worked and things like that. Among some of the places we visited were the Federal Reserve, the Pentagon, and the White House old Executive Complex.

As you may imagine it was an extremely busy semester for me but it was really worth it. I made many friends, contacts, learned valuable lessons and gained a lot of experience. Then in December, I finally flew back to Guatemala after almost a year of traveling around the world and had a wonderful time with my friends and family. I was so thankful to God and my parents for all these opportunities and for having the opportunity to spend Christmas at home with them. I was especially thankful for having  the opportunity to spend time with my grandparents and family in all the traditional gatherings we have in the Advent season.

The food was great, the weather perfect, and the rest is history. Time goes by so fast when you enjoy something. During the brief time I spent in Guatemala I did so many things, I visited so many people, went to different places, and even had time to climb the Pacaya volcano with my brother and uncles.

Now I´m back in Vermont, getting ready to start my second semester as a Junior and must say that I am getting really pumped to start the year with the right foot and work hard again. I hope that all of you will have a great year and would also like to apologize for only writting one time last semester. I will write a lot more this time. Thanks again for all your constant support and emails.

Warm Regards

Jaime Parellada C.

It´s Good to be Back!

Many exciting things have happened since I wrote for the last time. After finishing my summer program at Peking University I traveled by myself around Yunnan Province. Thanks to the McGill-PKU Summer Chinese Program, and our excellent Chinese language professor at Norwich I was able to survive by myself speaking nothing but Chinese Mandarin. In the begining it was a difficult task, but soon after it became normal. I was able to find directions, bargain, buy food, and even chat while having a cup of tea with the friendly locals.

I must admit that I was captivated by Yunnan´s natural beauty and by the warmth of the local people. Along the way I visited Kunming (the Spring City), Shilin (the Stone Forest), Lijiang (a small traditional Chinese town which I used as a center of operations to visit the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the incredible Tiger Leaping Gorge), Shangri-La, and Deqin.

I went through many adventures and ordeals. I hiked many mountains, ate exotic foods, and had the opportunity to meditate about the meaning of life and the inmortality of the soul while trekking around the massive yet beautiful Meili Snow Mountain and the Mingyong Glacier.

Among the people I met were Tibetan monks, Naaxi musicians and horsemen, and Chinese soldiers. I am still amazed by their generosity, hospitality, and warmth, not only towards me but towards foreigners in general.After traveling around Yunnan, I went back to Beijing where I packed all my belongings and flew to Taiwan. I end this post here not to make it too long but on my next post I will write about my trip to Taiwan, where I visited two fellow cadets, rode on a scooter around the small island of Kinmen (just 2km away from Fujian Province in mainland China), and had many new adventures.

   

 

It is good to be back, thank you all for your constant support!

best regards

-Jaime

Summer in China

[Originally posted on 6-27-2008]

Hello Everyone,

Its been quite a long time since I last wrote. I had literally a "hell" of an end for my academic year, especially because of all the travel I had to do in order to get my Chinese Visa, which I finally ended up obtaining at the General Consulate of the People´s Republic of China in New York City two days before flying to China, after been told by the Visa officers in Washington D.C that I had to fly to Mexico in order to get my visa. Thanks God  everything got resolved in the United States and I didn´t have to fly to Mexico.

I did well academically, I think my GPA was around a 3.70. I really enjoyed this past semester, especially because I took really interesting courses, Civil Liberties being my favorite. Now I only have two more years to go in order to graduate. Next semester I won´t be at Norwich because I will be participating in The Fund for American Studies Capital Semester Program in Washington D.C at Georgetown University, where I will also be doing an internship. I am really exited about next semester because it will be a great opportunity for me to learn about American politics, and life in Washington D.C during an electoral year.

Right now I am living in Beijing, China, where I am participating in a program with McGill University from Canada at Peking University in China for learning Chinese. The program is amazing, we have two hours of class in the morning and two hours of tutorial in the afternoons. So far I love the program, its really intense and it also provides us with the opportunity to learn about Chinese history and culture. So far we´ve had many field trips to places like the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, Xi´an (where the terracotta warriors are located), among other places.

Living in China is a completely different experience than living in the United States. The Chinese people are extremely nice and very polite. I really enjoy all the new tastes, smells, and colours. I was really impressed to be here during the Sichuan earthquake, which I did not feel at all, but what impressed me was the day that China stopped in the afternoon to keep silence in memory of the victims of the earthquake.

So far I must say that I am really impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese people. I was also very impressed to see how quickly the People´s Liberation Army (PLA) reacted to the earthquake. It is very interesting also to see how excited everyone seems to be about the Olympic games. Contrary to what many people may think, I was surprised to discover that the Chinese people admire the United States very much, especially its people, and are always trying to practice their English and learn more about the West.

I will continue writting more about my experience in China, which I hope can provide a good insight into what studying abroad in China is like, especially for my fellow Chinese class peers, and the members of the Chinese Club.

I also want to tell the incoming class of 2012 to start getting ready for Norwich, it will be a life-changing experience and the more prepared (mentally, physically, and emotionally) you are, the easier this change will be. Future Rooks, start learning how to iron your clothes, how to shine your shoes, how to shave (if you dont know how to do so) tie your ties, etc. Go for runs, do push-ups, sit-ups, and stretch. It will be worth the effort. But above everything else, enjoy the time you spend home with your family. Good luck and stay motivated!

To my dear readers, thank you for all the comments and support along the past two years, I really appreciate it. I dont know if I will write again next year but I will try to continue writting for the rest of the summer, thanks again.

best regards

Cadet Jaime Parellada